


Umbratico

by hypeabyssal (bbyah)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Post-Series AU, Slow Build, gods being annoying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-03-02 04:03:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2798834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbyah/pseuds/hypeabyssal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing wings isn't the weirdest thing that's happened to Nico Di Angelo in the past couple of years, but that doesn't make it any less unwelcome.</p><p>In which Nico has the worst birthday ever- and he's had some rough ones. Featuring a terrible job interview, godly lowlife scum, and his very own quest. Also, for some reason (read: Will Solace), Will Solace is the third member of said birthday quest, and Hazel won't stop doing the eyebrow thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A cowboy, a model, and a drunk movie star walk into a forest...

  
Nico's pretty sure a duck has landed on his back. It's the only explanation for the sound of fluttering wings that wouldn't mean something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

He spends at least ten minutes lying on his bed, squeezing his eyes shut and hoping he's still dreaming.

The likelihood of a duck being around falls dramatically.

 _Not today,_ he thinks.

After the soft brushes of _something_ become undeniable, he sits up, craning his neck to see them properly in the mirror on the far wall.

There they are- two white wings, arcing from his shoulders. Not very big. Not a duck; goose wings, maybe, sticking out of his t-shirt through little rips. Again, he finds himself hoping if he ignores them hard enough, they'll go away.

It takes another twenty minutes to decide what to do. He paces around the cabin, dragging his shaking hands through his hair.

Old Nico says shadow travel to a remote mountain top before someone sees. Old Nico wants to waste no time grabbing his sword and shaking the earth to find a solution to this fresh hell. Old Nico knows exactly which dark alley he can find the monster dregs who can tell him what other dregs he needs to beat down next.

He's trying not to be Old Nico. He's better than that, or at least that's what everyone's been telling him. Hazel, Jason, Reyna, hell, even Percy, he can imagine their faces if he ran off now. Not when they're so deadset on him 'settling down' and 'belonging'. Not when he kind of sort of promised.

Nico swallows down the panic that is not purely from the sight of wings in the edge of his vision. He doesn't want to worry them. He knows he should send an Iris message to Hazel right away. He knows he could tell Jason- _keep this secret_ \- because he would. And he knows he could go to Will Solace and ask him to cut them out, or maybe sing at them until they fall off.

His brain tangles a little bit when he thinks about Will Solace. They're barely even close, but...

Nico is such a creep. He puts his sneakers on and crams the wings into a thick hoodie.

_Why today?_

He'll go to Chiron.

 

 

 

This might not have been the best idea.

Nico perches on a normally comfortable arm chair, spine ramrod straight.

"So what can I do for you, Nico?" Chiron asks, setting down a tray with two empty mugs.

"Tea, please." The mugs refill, and Chiron gestures to them. "You're up early. Have a rough night?"

Nico licks his lips and shrugs. _'Any terrifying nightmares about falling into the depths of hell beyond? Or maybe one about killing New Rome's augur? Exploding one of the Great Prophecy's heroes with said augur? Come now, Nico, that was two summers ago. Let's discuss your inability to move on over tea!'_

"Has camp been enjoyable for you so far? I just want to remind you, if there's anything you need, you can tell me. No exceptions! I know things have been...difficult for you. We're glad you still consider this home."

Nico just stares at him.

Terrible, terrible idea. Why did he come here again? What does he even say. _'Hi Chiron, I grew wings this morning, also, I'm turning sixteen today so you know it's probably part of some stupid prophecy'._

He has no trouble finding his voice when he's got some life-or-death message from the underworld to proclaim, or when he looks up at his father's throne of bones, but now his mind is blank.

"Um."

Chiron frowns. "Is everything alright?"

"I. I, uh." The wings shift under his hoodie. How has Chiron not noticed them? They feel huge.

"Today's my birthday."

Chiron's eyebrows shoot way up.

"Is it now? A celebration is in order, then," he says. "Sixteen, yes? A truly wonderful age. Considered the age of heroes- although you've got a head start on that one. But is there something you need from me?"

Nico stands up. "I came to ask if I could go to McDonald's," he blurts out.

Chiron doesn't say anything for a moment. Nico keeps his face straight- a talent he's pretty proud of, if he's honest.

"Because it's my favorite," he adds. He tries to act normal, but he can't help holding his breath until Chiron speaks.

"I...I don't see why not. Although, I really do insist you take another camper, just for peace of mind."

"I can shadow travel. I'll be in and out before anyone will even notice. I'll be fine on my own."

Chiron sighs, but he's nodding. "I suppose I'll allow it, only because I don't think my approval will make a difference either way."

Nico starts shuffling towards the door, walking backwards so the wing shaped lump is out of sight. 

"Great," he says. "Um, sorry. I mean- thanks?"

Chiron holds up a hand. "Ah, one more thing, Nico," he says.

Nico freezes.

He just wants to get out of here and get to his father's place so he can lose the wings.

"It's on me." Chiron pulls a crisp ten dollar bill from his pocket. "Happy birthday."

Nico stares at Chiron for a moment too long, maybe, before he takes the bill. "T...thanks."

Chiron laughs and waves him out. He's already distracted, which is great for Nico.

Nico runs across the grass, stopping at his cabin to grab his sword, just in case. The camp is quiet, bluish in the misty morning light. It's still too early for anyone to be out of their cabins, which is great for him. He'll head through the forest to the edge of camp, then call Jules-Albert.

Hades has to know what's going on. And if his father doesn't know, Persephone or Demeter might at least be able to point him in the right direction. And if that doesn't work out, there's a countless pool of captive souls he can fish for information in. Hazel will feel him enter the Underworld, but she probably won't think anything of it.

Plunging into the cool darkness of the forest doesn't calm his racing thoughts like it usually does. Nico picks up his pace. If he hurries, he can catch his father at breakfast.

The arrow that flies past his head almost gives him the world's fastest lobotomy.

His sword is drawn before he's turned around.

Three guys stand a few feet away, shaded by the trees. Nico's never seen them before. He doesn't bother wasting time.

"Who are you?" he asks.

The closest one crosses his arms. He seems to be about Nico's age. He's dressed in a poncho, with black cowboy boots. Dark curls feather against olive skin. In his hands is a crossbow.

"You're...small," he says, grimacing. "I expected bigger."

Nico narrows his eyes. "You're one to talk."

The guy to his left throws a hand up. He's built- his muscular form shows even under his leather jacket, and a baseball cap shadows his eyes. The only brightness on his form is bright white teeth against deep dark skin and a single silver earring.

"Hold up, hold up. Let's not dive right into the lovey dovey stuff- sorry about the arrow. Just a little... bet among us, eh?" His voice is soothing and rich. Nico doesn't trust it.

"Don't make me ask you again," he says, adjusting his grip on his sword. "Who are you?"

On top of everything else, he can't help but notice the air smells sickly sweet- like wilting roses.

"No need for hostility," the third guy says, stepping forward. He's got movie star good looks- bright golden skin and long limbs poured into a black suit, shirt unbuttoned and loosened like he's home after a wild party. His long dark hair is stuffed in a headband. "Although I do appreciate the sentiment." He smiles, his eyes squinting into little half moons.

Nico finds himself thrown off balance by the guy's sudden grin, and he swallows. A heat is rising under his skin, and he tries to shake it off.

"It was rude of us not to announce ourselves," the smiling guy says. "Didn't think you'd dodge Ante's arrow, though! Not bad. Boss told us you were good, but, well... we're a little...shoot first, ask later, you know?"

"That's not the best idea around here," Nico says. His face is still burning, but he doesn't dare take his eyes off the trio.

"I don't doubt it, doll." The smiling guy says, putting a hand on his hip.

"I'm Ros. These are my brothers, P-thos," he gestures to the guy in the baseball cap, "and Ante." He waves towards the guy in the poncho. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintence, Nico Di Angelo."

Nico is back on full guard immediately.

"You know my name." He hefts his sword in front of him. The wings under his hoodie shift again.

All three of the gazes are fixed on the motion. He takes a step back without thinking.

"You," Nico growls. "This is your fault, isn't it?"

"Man, you really need to chill. Of course we know your name." P-thos says, though he's smiling now. The way his eyes are blocked from view bothers Nico.

"So jumpy," Ros adds.

Nico's jaw tightens. He's a second away from summoning whatever bones he can here, but he holds himself back, because something feels...off.

He doesn't want to jump to conclusions, anyways. He's learned that only leads to problems.

"Did you do this?" he asks.

"Be more specific, lamb," Ros says, voice still light and airy. He saunters in a slow circle around Nico.

Nico's dealt with guys like this before. The smile doesn't fool him for one second. He trusts Ante's scowl more than the easy grin or P-thos' tranquility.

"The wings. They're from Cupid, around they? You're his brothers."

Ante rolls his eyes. "Don't call him that. It makes you sound like a brand new fool. His name is Eros."

A huge pair of wings unfolds from Ante's back. They make Nico's wings look like they belong to a hummingbird. The other two follow suit, stretching big wings out and tucking them behind them.

"I'm not sure if I'm hearing this right, but you don't sound too happy," P-thos says.

"I'm not happy because I don't want these, and I want him to leave me alone."

Ante and Ros share a glance.

P-thos nods. "Yeah, I figured- started off on the wrong foot, right? But hey, let me...run this by you."

He steps forward.

"Eros wants to extend a preposition for you. A job offer. He was very impressed by your performance in Split. Consider the wings a little taste of what you could be. Reach your potential, eh? He wants to bring you on. Full-time, you know? You get wings, weapons, immortality, great benefits-"

"And what do I have to do in return?" Nico asks, voice flat.

Ros throws his arms out wide. "Just a few errands, angel face. Nothing big! Nothing you don't want to do- just little jobs. Deliveries. Messages. Personal visits. That sort of thing."

"Although it would be," P-thos stops, rubs his chin. "Permanent. Eternal. You sign a few things."

"Eternal servitude to the god who spat in my face when I said 'no', sounds great. Not interested," Nico says.

The brothers' expressions slide into frigid blankness immediately. A chill zaps up Nico's spine.

He finds himself in a panic response he recognizes from Cupid, Kronos, his father-the pressure they are exuding would terrify anyone else.

Operative words being anyone else. Maybe someone who hadn't heard the tales of endless tragedies right from the source, hadn't been through Tartarus. Lost a parent then a sibling. Faced death and said 'bye', played fetch with a three-headed hell guardian, split the earth, breathed shadows.

Goddamnit, it's his birthday.

"Go away."

"Okay. Okay. Not feeling it. I respect that," P-thos says. He bites his lips and rubs his hands together, the silver rings making little clicking noises. "But...this is a bit of a tough spot."

"Would you consider this your final decision?" Ante asks.

"We'll need to take those back," Ros says, grinning again.

Ante checks something on his crossbow, lifting it and aiming it at a tree experimentally.

"Eros really doesn't like being turned down," he says.

"And I don't like when people try to tell me what to do," Nico says. "Go ahead, take them, you'll be doing me a favor."

His ideal outcome is that these guys leave. He's not scared of them, but he doesn't want them around camp.

Ros raises his eyebrows. "Sure you don't need a belt to bite?"

"Good one," Nico says, rolling his eyes.

Ros is just looking at him mildly. P-thos and Ante point at each other, and Ante scowls. He pulls out a golden knife from his poncho. Celestial bronze.

Realization hits Nico, and he feels dread bubble up.

"Are you kidding me?" he bites out.

"To be honest, you're one of the few candidates to refuse," Ros says, examining his nails. "And most of them change their minds. It's hard to get those things off."

"Stay the hell away from me," Nico says. He gets his sword up again, eyes darting from each of the guys.

Camp doesn't have a lot of bones, but he knows there's some deep below. He reaches out, trying to grasp them, but-

But it's harder than normal.

He tries to buy some time. Tries to feel out some shadows to duck through. Something, but he knows he can't leave and risk them heading to the camp.

"What kind of 'offer' is this, anyways? 'Take these wings! Oh, by the way, work for me forever, or I'll chop them off'- that's ridiculous. You do understand that, right?"

P-thos breathes out a laugh, but he moves with agitation. He shifts his weight and rolls his neck. When he looks back at Nico, he's frowning. "See, funny thing about that, if you're under Eros, you can kinda make up your own rules."

Nico's starting to breathe a little faster, and it's not because of the winged gods in front of him- it's because he can't feel anything, he can't get a grip on the bones, or the earth, or the shadows.

"So what's it gonna be, pet?" Ros asks.

Nico barely hears him over the rushing pulse in his ears. This is bad.

"Stop calling me whatever you want," he manages.

Ante twirls the knife. "You heard the guy! Offer refused. Ok, dude, get on the ground and we'll try to make sure you don't lose too much blood."

Yeah, he needs to get out of here, shadows or not. Preferably leading them away from camp. He ignores the tiny voice that sounds familiar, trying to get his attention- _'Find Jason! Find Piper! Percy! Annabeth! Find someone, you don't have to fight alone!'_

The other voice is louder, the one that lurks in corners and has been doing it for so long its' never really learned the things Nico's trying to remember, trust and helping and teamwork- _'Get them away from camp. Get them away from camp.'_

P-thos moves to grab him and he brings the sword up, slamming it into his shoulder and ducking to the right.

He needs to put some distance between them and camp. A battle here is out of the question.

The branches whip at his face as he barrels through the trees, because he could pretty much guess that yes Cupid's henchmen are inhumanly fast, and probably playing with him even so.

His mind is not clear, and it's tripping him up. Thoughts flash through his head like lightning; he wonders if this is how Thalia felt, when she was running, making it so close to camp, only to be struck down. He remembers Jason telling him _'maybe that's why I feel so...right here, you know? Because she was here first.'_

Nico stumbles, just a tiny bit, and he knows it's the only mistake they needed. The gust of air from beating white wings chills his right arm through the hoodie.

Wings. Right.

"Dad I don't know if you can hear me, but I need help," he says, throat tight as he bites out the words.

And he somehow figures out what muscles he needs to move to get them working, a sudden burst of speed muffled by the hoodie, as a fissure opens beneath him and in the same second an arrow flies- towards the brothers.

The ground has split into two levels, and Nico stands on the higher jagged ledge. He shakes his head and glances over the edge.

Ante's cowboy hat is pinned to a tree by an arrow with something colorful wrapped around it.

Nico squints, before he recognizes it. His heart skips a beat.

"Will?" he breathes out.

It's one of Will Solace's arrows, covered in rainbow thread because he gets 'bored on long night shifts'.

Ante grits his teeth, turning livid eyes to the trees around them.

"Whoever did that, come out. Now."

Before Nico can say anything, two more arrows arc out of the trees and bury themselves in the ground.

Will steps out of the treeline holding his bow.

"Friends of yours, Di Angelo?" Will calls up to him. He grins a little as he says it, completely relaxed, and Nico kind of wants to hit him.

Nico opens his mouth to say something, when he glances back at the three brothers. His blood runs cold.

The movement that catches his eye is their heads turning- from Will, back to Nico. They look struck, like Cerebus when he sees his ball.

"Well well, I can see why boss liked you, precious," Ros says.

Ante looks like he's been smacked.

"A son of Apollo, really, dude? That's just...ugh. Bad taste."

"Can't help it, I guess. Gotta admit, it'd make a great story," P-thos says, shrugging.

"Yeah, if we kill them," Ante snaps back.

"Will, get out of here. Go tell Chiron what's going on," Nico says, trying to keep his voice commanding. He's pretty sure he just sounds panicked.

Will grimaces. "And leave you to these guys? Yeah, okay, can we vote on that?"

There's a rumble in the sky, and the forest darkens. Gray clouds gather overhead.

Nico's heart sinks. So much for dealing with his own problems.

"Nico!"

And yup, there he is, the fabled son of Zeus, crashing through a bush in his comfy SPQR sweats.

"Are you alright," Jason asks, pure concern shining in his eyes as he looks up at Nico. Then he levels a glare to the brothers, who look disturbingly intrigued. "Who are you?"

"They're with Cupid," Nico says, letting Jason come to his own conclusions, before turning to the brothers. "Listen!"

"Listening," Ros announces.

"I...I changed my mind. I'll think about your offer," Nico says.

"What makes you think it's still open?" Ante says at the same time Jason calls out, confused- "Nico?"

Nico doesn't take his eyes off the brothers. "Then I win, hm? Not like it'll be easy, trying to catch me. Plus, then you go back to Eros empty-handed."

Ante narrows his eyes. "Not like he'd care-"

P-thos holds up a hand. "Wait," he says. "Go on."

"I mean, immortality. Wow. Big honor. Consider me tempted. But if you really want me to accept, then I need to think about it. I mean, you're talking about eternity. I have things I need to sort out."

He's got Eros' attention, wherever he is. Nico can feel it in his wings, an unpleasant thrill burning hot on the edge of each feather. He ignores Jason's startled protests, doesn't even dare a glance at Will.

"Three days," P-thos says, crossing his arms.

Ros nods. "We leave, you have three days to accept or decline-"

"And then we find you. And you decide how hard this is gonna be," Ante finishes.

"Deal," Nico says.

His heart almost beats out of his chest when Ante aims his crossbow at him, squeezing one eye shut.

"Don't do anything stupid, ok, Junior? This isn't our first rodeo."

"And we aren't shy, babydoll," Ros says, shining another one of his dazzling smiles up at Nico.

P-thos looks over to Jason, completely silent. He tilts his head. Nico's throat tightens, pulse pounding.

They leave like a breeze, there one moment and gone the next.

It's only then Nico lets himself look away from where they stood, sweeping a tired look over Jason's tense frown and meeting Will's eyes.

He's surprised to see bare fury there, before the ledge he's standing on gives way.


	2. Drink Sunny D

Will tries to assess the situation in a calm, swift manner, but Nico Di Angelo was just swallowed up by the dirt and Jason Grace is doing his best to jump right in after him. To complicate matters, three hostile gods could be anywhere in the trees around him and his eyelid just twitched for the first time in three months.

_I need to eat more potassium._

Plus he kind of wants to punch something, but that's not okay nor important at the moment.

He channels his frustration into a single hard tug on one of his arrows, yanking it out of the dirt. By the time he's straightened up, he's brushed his hair out of his eyes and managed an exhale and a smile.

"Jason," he calls.

Jason looks up from where he's waist deep into the rift.

"Come on, we have to go after him!"

"I think he just went...you know, down. We need to go back to camp first. Regroup. Make sure those winged guys didn't pay anyone else a visit."

Jason stops, concern written on his face.

"You're right...but what about Nico?" he asks, glancing down to the piles of smashed earth.

Will doesn't know Jason too well, honestly, but it's hard not to like Camp Half Blood's honorary Roman transplant. It just makes Will feel like a terrible person, because all he can think is that this is the guy everyone likes. This is the guy that even _Nico_ likes. A lot. Always smiling or holding back a laugh around. This is the guy worth staying for. And he's a great person, Will's sure, but he's also a lot of ...well, what Will is not. Will is not serious, or heroic, or statue-esque and imposing and. Well.

That's what Nico likes, apparently.

In the end, it didn't matter, because the guy accepted an offer of immortality and that might be it. That might be the end of the whole 'crush' thing and Will didn't end up doing a damn thing beyond forcing him to stay in bed two summers ago.

He shrugs, feeling...empty.

"Guess he'll be ok with his dad for now."

A bitterness sits in his throat, tinging his words, and he tries to hold it back.

_Chill out, man._

He shouldn't be surprised. The thought that friendship, belonging- he'd tried, he'd offered, but maybe not _enough_ \- would stand a chance against immortality?

Not like they'd  _really_ been close. Not close enough.

Will should have known. But it still hurts.

Jason breaks into Will's thoughts.

"You're right. We need to get back," he says.

Will nods. There's bigger stuff to worry about right now.

Piper McLean chooses that moment to pop up out of nowhere, wielding a cornucopia.

"What happened?" she asks, eyes flicking around all over the place. She hunches over.

"Was someone here? It feels...weird."

Jason frowns.

"Let's go. We might have a problem."

"Seconded," Will says. What he doesn't say is the several million variations of despondent and-or angry 'Nico-just-said-he-wanted-immortality' running through his mind.

Having a crush _sucks._

They start back to camp, scanning the trees for any movement.

"I know who they were," Jason says, voice hushed.

Will gets the sense they've forgotten he's there as they move close to each other.

Which is fine. Will's used to playing support. But right now he needs all the information he can get.

"Who? Nico said it was Cupid- why would Cupid be offering him immortality?" he asks.

Jason ducks his head and doesn't look at Will or Piper.

"I'm not sure it's my story to tell."

"Come on man, is this a problem or not?"

They stop, and Jason turns to Will.

"We've...met him. I don't think he's up to any good. What's important is if you heard them say anything else before I got there. I've never met those guys before. Did you get any names?"

"All I saw were three guys with wings chasing Nico. They looked like bad news. I shot an arrow at them and missed. It, uh, wasn't very effective."

"You bought time," Jason says fiercely, and yup, this guy is a born leader.

'Nico was accepting the offer though,' Will wants to say. Piper is faster.

"Winged guys from Cupid...three? Did they have weapons?" she asks.

"Crossbow," Will says.

Jason nods. "And a knife."

Piper frowns. "I might have heard about something like that...we should ask Annabeth."

"Chiron first. Camp might be in danger. Then we can get everyone together and...," Jason trails off, then groans. "Ughhh..."

Will looks over at Piper, who looks just as confused.

"Hazel," Jason says like he's forgotten a homework assignment. "She's gonna kill me."

Right...Hazel Levesque, one of the Great Seven, and Nico's Roman sister. Will has only met her a few times, and she was possibly the sweetest girl he's ever met. But with the palpable dread rolling off of Jason, he's starting to wonder if he was wrong.

"Uh, don't you mean she's gonna _flip out_?" Piper asks, eyes wide.

"She's gonna flip out _then_ kill me."

"Is it that bad?" Will asks, genuinely curious.

Jason turns to him with a dark expression. "Yes."

Will laughs. "Just look on the bright side- he's not dead. Just...home."

Piper cracks a smile, and Will feels a bit of weight lift from his shoulders. 

"True. She might already know, if he is in Hades' kingdom," she says.

Jason nods. "Then we should hurry, before she calls us asking why her brother is in the kingdom of the dead."

They emerge from the treeline when Annabeth jogs up.

"Something," she says, before holding up a hand to catch her breath. Her hair is down, out of it's usual ponytail, and underneath her eyes there are faint dark circles. "Something was here?"

Will is honestly surprised to see her. It's weird that both Piper and Jason showed up as well, now that he thinks about it.

"How did you know?" he asks.

"Didn't you feel it?" Annabeth asks, squinting at him.

"Feel what?"

Piper and Jason share a glance.

"We both felt it- it was a dream at first, but then we could feel something here. Jason went to check it out, and I went to go get Percy and Annabeth. By the way, is he-"

Annabeth cuts her off. "Still trying to fix the bathroom situation? Yes. Although I'm pretty sure he's just making it worse, so I left him to it."

Will laughs, because he knows exactly who they're talking about and exactly what that might entail. He's nervous, though, because with the mention of Percy this is becoming a 'Great Seven' problem, and he's, well...not one of the 'Great Seven'.

It's not as though he's jealous, and he doesn't see them like some of the younger campers do- unreachable, intimidating. Heck, they've all been under his care at least once over the past six summers. Even Hazel and Frank, who weren't even campers. Still, it's unsettling. Will is a medic, not a hero. His role isn't in the spotlight.

"Let's get to Chiron. He'll be happy to know we had intruders," Jason says.

 

 

Chiron was ready for them. He'd opened the door before they even knocked, hurrying them inside. 

He was ready for something else, too, and they had to move around a huge sword and a bow in the front hall.

"Wings, you say?" he mutters. "That certainly narrows it down. What did they look like? Were they holding anything?"

"They had a crossbow. They attacked Nico," Will says. 

Chiron stares at Will.

"Nico Di Angelo? I just spoke to him this morning. Where is he? Is he alright?"

"He's okay," Jason says. "He came here? Today? Why?" His brow furrows as he leans forward.

Chiron crosses his arms. "He was asking to leave camp for breakfast, as today is his birthday."

There's an awkward silence.

Will feels like an idiot, because he's sure in the book of _'Ways to Impress Guys'_ , knowing their birthday is probably high up on the list.

At least he's not the only one who's feeling awkward- Piper, Jason, and Annabeth are all various shades of embarrassed.

"He never told me," Jason murmurs, right as Percy bursts through the door.

"Where's the thing?!" he half yells, staggering over to stand by Annabeth.

She rolls her eyes.

"Gone for now. You took care of-?"

"Yeah! We're gonna need a wrench later, though. And maybe some paint."

" _You'll_ need a wrench. Not my problem."

"No, Annabeth, please-"

They're interrupted by Chiron clearing his throat.

"As I was saying, he came to ask permission to leave, however, I couldn't help but notice a certain...anxiety."

Piper leans against an easy chair. "Maybe he felt that thing too? Maybe he went to go investigate."

Will hangs his head, looking down at his sandals.

Nico's acceptance of the offer still pokes at the back of his mind, prickling uncomfortably under his skin.

What if...

What if Nico meant it?

What if friends weren't enough for someone who did amazing things, traveled the world, commanded armies?

What if someone like Will wasn't enough? For a hero, that would be almost expected.

Everyone knew Percy got the offer, but his denial was predictable. Because Percy had it all at camp, and he loved it. But Nico had always walked apart from all that, always had trouble seeing what was right in front of him.

"They offered him immortality," he blurts out.

Everyone in the room is looking at him now, except for Jason, who nods.

"He...accepted. I think it was to distract them from Will and me. It was guys sent from Cupid, and he knows me too."

Chiron's face is completely blank. "Cupid," he repeats, barely loud enough to hear. "He accepted an offer from...Eros."

Annabeth's eyebrows shoot up. "From Eros? Then...his brothers?"

"Erotes," Chiron says. 

Will straightens up, tamping down the hurt feelings that well in his chest. He'll deal with those later, preferable when Nico is around to hear them.

"Nico bought us time. I think we should go to the Underworld and find him, before they come back," he says.

"My, yes," Chiron murmurs, still staring into space. "An offer from Eros could be very, very pressing."

"Then we act now," Will says, and maybe he's ready to be a hero now.

Because he'd gone to find Nico after a dream that morning. Because he'd had his first prophetic vision in two years. Because Apollo was back in action and decided Will needed to see Nico Di Angelo with wings, kneeling in black armor and reverence at an empty throne. Because his father made it clear that it was the bad end- Nico with glowing red eyes and a blood red sword at his side.

"My dad gave me a dream."

Chiron snaps out of it and looks at Will, and a look of understanding crosses his features.

"Apollo would hate to lose," he says. "I strongly recommend you try to convince your friend to retract his acceptance."

"Percy and I will secure the camp perimeter," Annabeth says.

"Then we call Hazel," Piper says with an air of resignation. "I'm sure that will go well."

"I...uh," Will starts, then pauses. He's not sure what is left to do besides just running off to the Underworld. He's not even sure if he's like, _in._  "I gotta go tell the cabin I might be going on a trip."

No one says otherwise, and Will finally feels the glow of something bright in his veins.

 

 

By the time he returns to the Apollo cabin, all his siblings are done with their various morning rituals- jogs, swims, journaling, songs. Apollo kids have a tendency to rise early with the sun.The front door is open, and the sounds of happy chatter and random snippets of harmonizing filter out into the air. Sunlight turns the cabin into shining solid gold, and Will stops outside on the porch.

For the first time in his life, he's tired in the morning. Even after all-nighters at the infirmary, Will's always been blessed with extreme morning person-itis. He finds his limbs heavy and self-diagnoses himself with acute reluctance and possibly some kind of emotional flu. Recommended treatment: drink a glass of orange juice and find a way into the Underworld so a son of Hades will maybe acknowledge your existence.

Will thunks his head on the stair post next to him. He might understand Shakespeare a little more now. Will is certainly filled with enough emotions to pen a few thousand darkly humorous sonnets. Maybe Nico would like to see them.

"Will?" Gerald's voice calls from the door. "Took the long way today?"

Will forces a grin and gets back into head counselor mode before he looks up. Gerald's nine. There is no way Will is dumping his troubles on a nine year old.

"Yup. And guess what? I have some news for everyone," Will says, keeping his voice light.

Gerald's face breaks out into a wide smile.

"Good or bad news?!"

"Ehh, let's consider it good for now!" Will says as he climbs the steps and ushers Gerald inside.

"Will has something to tell us!" Gerald bellows.

The cabin falls quiet, broken by a few jokes and giggles.

All bright blue eyes are on Will.

He clears his throat.

"I just wanted to let you know, I'll be handing over head counselor duties to Kayla for the next couple of days!"

Will looks at Kayle over the collective murmur of confusion. Her brow is furrowed, but she nods.

Will raises a hand. "There's been a bit of trouble, and I'll be going along with Jason Grace and Hazel Levesque to investigate."

Now the murmuring is excited. Some of the campers start blurting out questions and comments.

"You're going on a quest? Sweet!"

"Trouble? Like what?"

"Hazel? Isn't she like, president of Rome or something?"

"You're going with Jason? Omigod, YOU'RE SO LUCKY!"

One voice is louder than the rest.

"I don't want you to go!"

Will knows who it is immediately. Lindy Fall, a new camper, only seven or eight years old. Her only interest so far seems to be following Will around the infirmary. She looks devastated.

"It'll only be a few days-" he starts, but Lindy just turns and runs to her bunk, where she sulks in the sunlight.

Will sighs. "It will only be a few days. I can't say too much yet, but there's been an attack on a camper and we want to make sure it was just a one time thing."

"Was it a monster from the forest? Which camper?" Jules asks, alarm written on his face.

"Uh." Will didn't plan to go this far into details. "It's, um, possibly a god, we don't know much yet. And the camper is, uh, well, they're a hero, so it's not like a big deal-"

"A hero?" someone says.

"One of the Great Seven?" someone else asks.

"Will, why is your face so red?"

Over in the corner, Kayla looks incredibly curious, eyebrows raised and smile playing at her lips.

"Further details as events warrant!" Will says, making his voice stern despite his burning face. "Now get ready for breakfast! Assemble and ...and get to the dining hall."

"You heard him, guys," Kayla says. "Let's get some food. I'm sure Will'll tell us more later."

The groans of disappointment are ridiculously loud as the campers file out.

Will runs a hand through his hair. At least that part was over with. He throws his bow on his bunk. He's not sure if he needs anything, but he figures a weapon and a spare set of clothes might be a good idea. It's his first quest, his first real _quest_ with gods and monsters and friends in trouble, and instead of worrying about all that he's nervous as hell because he's about to talk to Hazel Levesque, and if she can see through the mist like the stories say, won't she be able to see right through Will?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am having so much trouble keeping canon stuff straight re:Apollo children/the Di Angelos/Random godly stuff since it's really stretched out over the series, but I don't think anything is too far off yet...also, Will's crush is meant to be really projected and idealistic. just in case you all thought they were severely dating in the backstory of this, they have just been friends. more like camp-friends-who-have-no-idea-how-other-people-work. in a nutshell, adolescence!  
> hope you enjoy \o/


	3. Hazel wonders if locks even do anything these days

In Hazel's defense, any boy who thought it was proper to wake up a girl by rainbow-ing their face right into her room deserves a pillow to the nose.

  
Jason flinches even though the pillow can't hurt him through the shimmering rainbow. Unfortunately.

  
"Can I HELP you?!" Hazel screeches, tugging the sheets up around her.

  
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Jason yells as he shields his face.

  
Hazel lowers the other pillow she's grabbed, because like it or not, Jason calling her usually meant something significant, even if he was no longer her centurion or praetor of the Legion.

  
"Okay," she says slowly. "What's so important it made you forget all manners and show up in my bedroom?"

  
Jason turns bright red, but he manages to keep his composure.

  
"I have bad news." His voice is serious, the voice he used to address the Fifth Cohort.

  
Hazel finds herself at attention. Even saving the world together doesn't change the fact that Jason is a leader to the end, and if he says something is bad, it's bad.

  
"We talking Gaea bad or just 'Percy flooded the bathrooms' bad?"

  
Percy's head pops up behind Jason.

  
"How did you-! No way. That's magic. Or cheating."

  
Hazel notices how many people are in the room behind them. Piper's next to Jason, and Annabeth stands further back, along with the infirmary guy and Chiron.

  
No one looks happy.

  
"What happened," Hazel says. Her voice hitches when she notices who's missing.

  
"Where's Nico?"

  
Jason's frown deepens, but it's stiff. Hazel bites her cheek.

  
She's not angry. Yet. Because she can feel her brother, _alive._

  
"Why is my brother in the Underworld?"

  
_What's_ wrong _with his energy_ , she doesn't say.

  
"I think he's okay, Hazel. But we were attacked today- some winged jerks from Cupid. Nico found them first. He got away through the ground."

  
"Lord," Hazel says, eyes wide. "I'll be there in- today, I don't know, I'll get there." The only thing on her mind is finding Nico, but if her friends are in danger, she can't just leave them.

  
"There's no use coming here- they might not come back. We have things under control," Annabeth says from where she leans against the wall.

  
"Then I'll go to the Underworld and find my brother."

  
"Don't go alone," Piper says, ducking into view.

  
"I'll take Frank."

  
Jason looks up, dead serious.

  
"I want you to warn Reyna. Tell her there's been an attack. Just to be on guard, in case they make another appearance. We'll be there with you as soon as we can."

  
Hazel nods, then tries for a smile.

  
"Cupid, huh? Maybe they were delivering a valentine."

  
Piper's the only one who snorts.

  
"Yeah, love hurts, right?" she says.

  
Hazel takes a deep breath. "Now get out of my room, I need to get ready."

 

 

 

Saving the world with the new praetor, plus also maybe dating said new praetor, had made a lot of things around New Rome seem less intimidating in comparison.

  
Talking to Reyna was not one of those things.

  
It wasn't that Hazel didn't like Reyna. No, she was amazing. A great leader- a great soldier. Smart, brave, and beautiful. Plus, she had protected Nico, one of Hazel's own. It's part of the reason she was even bothering to honor Jason's request before taking off.

  
Maybe it was _because_ of all that great leader stuff. Being around Reyna tended to put you a little...on edge. She emanated a high standard. The quiet intensity that burned within her could raise you up or drag you down.

  
Hazel should have known Reyna and her brother would get along.

  
She still doesn't look forward to this.

  
Hazel pulls a sweater and some jeans on before hurrying out of her bunk.

  
Frank's bunk is on the way, and she bangs on the door four times before stepping back and waiting. It's so hard to sit still, and the thirty seconds it takes for the door to swing open feels like days.

  
"My brother is in trouble," she blurts out, grabbing Frank's arm and pulling him out of the bunk.

  
" _Again_?" he asks, falling in step with her.

  
Hazel ignores him. "We need to get to the Underworld and make sure he's okay."

  
"Great," Frank says, voice wavering. "This will be so fun. Wait, aren't you like...permabanned? Your dad's ignoring your existence so you can stay alive, right?"

  
"He's over that. Sort of. I'm sure this is a good reason to risk a visit."

  
Frank turns to her and grabs her shoulder.

  
His gaze catches her, and she instantly feels warm from the serious look in his dark eyes.

  
"Hazel. Will you be in danger?"

  
" _Frank_. Have I ever given you a reason to worry?"

  
"...well, _yes_. Constantly. Like that time with the giant turtle. Or the Amazon shipping plant. Or-"

  
"OKAY, YES, I got it, but I'm still in one piece, right?"

  
Frank gives her his trademark long-suffering puppy dog look, and Hazel rewards him by poking his nose and hopping away.

  
The reach Reyna's quarters and Hazel takes a deep breath as Frank knocks.

  
"Coming," Reyna calls, before opening the door. Her eyebrows furrow slightly.

  
"Frank, Hazel, it's nice to see you so...early?"

  
Frank clears his throat. "Yeah, just...a tiny problem. Hazel got a message from Jason just now..."

  
"Camp Half Blood's been attacked," Hazel says. "Nico found them first."

  
She's surprised to see how much alarm and anger pass over Reyna's face.

  
"Is he alright?" she asks, beckoning them inside.

  
"I wouldn't be here if he wasn't," Hazel says.

  
Reyna relaxes a little. "Of course. What happened? Have they identified the monster?"

  
"Jason didn't say anything except for something about Cup-," she catches herself. "Eros. But he told me to make sure you knew. I'm going down to talk to Nico."

  
Reyna nods. "I'll alert the Legion there's a possibility of attack here. And...I want to go with you."

  
Hazel almost nods.

  
"Wait. What?" Frank beats her to the punch.

  
"Yeah, shouldn't you stay here and ...lead things?"

  
"Frank will be here," Reyna says. "He can handle it."

  
Hazel can't find the words to argue, and just looks at Frank.

  
Reyna seems to get the sentiment, and steps back.

  
"I'm sorry. He's...a good friend. I'm sure the Legion won't miss their praetors for a day."

  
Reyna's embarrassed, Hazel realizes. It makes the whole conversation easier, somehow.

  
"Right," she says. "We'll go together."

  
Frank lets out a weak 'woo', and Hazel can't help but laugh.

 

 

 

Reyna requests an hour before they leave so she can arrange some sentries, and Frank goes with her to help.

  
It gives Hazel some time to herself, time that she can feel anxious and restless. If it weren't selfish, she'd leave right now and find her brother by herself.

  
She's packing a quick bag of emergency supplies when out of nowhere, Nico's face pops up in front of her. Hazel almost jumps out of her skin.

  
"Are you okay," he asks, eyes darting around her room.

  
"Oh my- _Nico!_ What on Earth-" Hazel says, hand flying up to rest over her rapidly beating heart. "Where- why are you- what _happened?_ Jason told me you were attacked!"

  
"Yeah, that's...that's something, but more importantly- they haven't come after you, right?" Nico's talking _very_ fast, his words blurring together.

  
Hazel scoots forward. "No? Who's 'they'? Jason said it was Cupid. Why would he be attacking you?"

  
Nico goes quiet, his mouth drawn in a tight frown.

  
"Nico. Tell me."

  
"It's, um, i-it's..."

  
Now Hazel knows something's wrong, because Nico just doesn't stutter. Stew, glare, snipe, ramble, yes, but stutter? No.

  
"What is it?" She asks again.

  
"Apparently I made a great impression and then I made a really bad impression and failed a job interview I didn't want and I think maybe they have a hit out on me-"

  
Hazel holds up her hand before she gets dizzy. "Who is 'they'? Job interview? What?"

  
Nico looks away. "You don't know them."

  
Hazel narrows her eyes, but doesn't say anything. Nico glances back at her, before sighing.

  
"It's Cupid's brothers. And they want me to join them."

  
Hazel would laugh at the sudden imagery of her brother with heart tipped arrows and puffy wings, except _jeepers_ he's pulling out _real_ wings, white and at least a foot across-

  
"You," she breathes out, pressing her hands to her mouth. "You weren't kidding."

  
"Yeah, so, I'm gonna try to find a way to-"

  
"I'll be there soon. Don't go anywhere."

  
"Wait, I-"

  
" _Stay. There_ ," Hazel says, holding Nico's eyes. She puts as much force into it as possible- ' _wait for me_ '- and maybe he gets it, because he looks down and scowls.

  
"Alright. I'll stay."

  
"See you in a hot minute," Hazel says. She smiles when Nico looks back up, and it's slow, but he smiles too.

 

 

 

It's not until she's about to meet back up with Frank and Reyna that Hazel notices the flowers. They lay on her bed, next to her bag, and she knows they weren't there before now.

  
There's five tied together in a tiny bundle, purple and greenish and all different shapes.

  
"Aconite and Belladonna. A gift for a hero," a voice says from behind her.

  
Hazel turns, and a blur of three figures stands in the corner, wreathed in shadow. They solidify into a solemn-faced Hecate.

  
Probably should have expected that.

  
"I would have made coffee if I knew I'd have so many visitors this morning," Hazel says, picking up the flowers to examine them. "What do they do?"

  
"They have their uses," Hecate says.

  
"Oookay. Um, thank you. They're nice."

  
Hazel sticks them in the pocket of her bag. She looks back to Hecate. This is awkward.

  
Hecuba and Gale aren't around, she notices. Hazel finds herself slightly grateful, she didn't mind dogs, but farting polecats...well, she minded those.

  
Thankfully, Hecate breaks the silence on her own.

  
"Things are not well underneath," she says, raising her chin.

  
That gets Hazel's attention.

  
"Do you mean the Underworld? My brother?"

  
Hecate tilts her head. "This is beyond a single child, this is...an inevitable conclusion. An opportunity for a resolution. Or maybe just...revenge."

  
"What do you mean?" Hazel asks, narrowing her eyes.

  
"Sometimes, resentment burns long after problems have been solved. A single arrow changed a life, but it's still waiting to be returned."

  
Hazel closes her eyes and grimaces. Just for once, can they skip the riddles?

  
"Okay, so this is making very little sense to me, possibly due to the fact that you all like to reference things that happened ages ago...who wants revenge?"

"My dear friend. She who lurks below. The goddess of both cold and warmth, plucked from her field."

  
"... _Proserpine_? But she's...I don't know, she seems happy enough." Hazel had only heard about her dad's wife from Nico's stories, but for all of their arguments, Proserpine didn't sound unhappy to be with Hades. On the contrary, she was downright frosty about Nico's existence as the 'mortal's child'.

  
Hecate steps to the window, peering out of it.

  
"Feelings aren't always rational. And sometimes time leads one to clarity."

  
Hazel tries to connect the dots, but Hecate is being just a little too obscure.

  
"You mentioned an arrow...and inevitability? But it's something that happened a long time ago."

  
Hazel thinks back to everything she knows about Pluto.

  
"Someone shot Proserpine? When my dad kidnapped her!"

  
Hecate smiles then, slow and secretive.

  
"The target was not Proserpine that day."

  
"...it was Pluto. And _Cupid_! Cupid shot my dad when he saw Proserpine! And now he wants Nico? For...revenge?" It doesn't add up.

  
Hecate shakes her head.

  
"The God of Love is selfish and short-sighted, he can only see what he wants now. It's not revenge he's looking for, only whims he follows. But your father and his wife...well, they will raise hell if they discover such a robbery is occurring again."

  
Realization dawns on Hazel in a cold trickle down her back.

  
"This would be an insult. An invitation for war."

  
The room gets a shade darker when Hecate smiles again.

  
"I do have another gift for you- a prophecy," she says, then her voice rings like a bell.

  
" _Shadow meets light, cures what severs._  
_The enduring feud, buried by feathers._  
_Lovers' love brings the only calm,_  
_In the world's middle lies the only balm._ "

  
It burns into Hazel's brain with searing volume, then everything is clear again.

  
"Looks like we have some work to do, huh," she says, voice a little shaky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka the chapter that has way too much talking  
> it had to be done though  
> we're finally getting somewhere!!


	4. THIF

  
Fridays in the Underworld tend to be a huge pain.

Lines are endless, stressed employees and ghosts run all over the place, and everyone's trying to get everything done before the weekend deaths begin. It also means Hades is busy. A skeleton tells Nico to wait inside the palace until he's done.

After he messages Hazel, Nico wanders back into the dining room. Boxes of cereal are lined up in order of size all along the table, and he takes the seat farthest from them.

His dad won't be available for several hours, and he finds there's time to kill. It sucks, because he's incredibly restless. The stupid wings beat once, and he scowls until he's sure they'll stay still.

It's taken awhile, but he's started to notice they _hurt-_ a growing soreness that is both bone deep and tender to the touch. Nico supposes stuffing them in a hoodie wasn't the best idea.

Two minutes in and he's already over it.

"Fuck you," he mutters, wishing the stupid angel guys were able to hear it. He has some ideas for Round Two which involve a lot less running and a lot more stabbing.

Except... The tangible absence of earth under his feet, the loss of dust and bone under his skin...it leaves him groundless.

And yeah he's walked Tartarus so it's not like he's scared (he _can't_ be because nothing else compares), but Nico remembers what it felt like.

He also remembers what dragging someone into hell (making a  _ghost_ ) felt like. A part of him whispers that maybe this is what he deserves. What he's earned.

He thunks his forehead down on the cool marble tabletop and dares to reach out, calling up the shadows, and he can feel they are there. Just out of reach.

He lets out a shaky sigh. Maybe that's worse. Because the shadows have always been so reactive. Because they have always told him when something was creeping up on him. Because they have always held him when he was creeping up on something.

His friend, his family, his wake up call, his comfort in those late nights where there was no home aboveground to return to...just out of reach. Impassive. _Unresponsive_.

To feel the underworld so unfamiliar to him is leaving a weight in his throat he can't quite swallow around.

"I can fix this," he murmurs. "I will fix this."

 

 

It seems like he only closes his eyes for a few seconds, but it's apparently been a while.

He wakes up to Hades smacking him lightly on his head as he strides to the head of the table.

Nico shakes off his sleepiness and sits up straight. The wings smash against the back of his chair and he winces.

Hades turns on a heel, eyeing him- and his back. There's a sharp look in his eye.

"Oh, for the sake of- show them to me," he says.

Nico can't remember- he didn't tell him about the wings, did he?

"On with it!" Hades snaps, pacing back and forth.

He's dressed...differently today, in a pitch black suit and slicked back hair. Nico must take too long, because Hades stalks over to him.

"Arms up."

"Dad," Nico groans, rolling his eyes. He tugs the hoodie off himself.

The wings stretch out into freedom immediately, like they're happy to be unleashed.

Hades doesn't say anything. Nico chances a look at his face, and jumps.

Hades looks _livid._

Nico finds himself nervous. He doesn't even know why.

"I mean, I don't know how they got there, I didn't want this to happen-"

"Of course you didn't want them," Hades says, "That's the problem, isn't it?"

He turns away from Nico, and Nico sees his fist clench by his side.

"I should _destroy_ him," he mutters, almost too low for Nico to catch.

Nico opens his mouth to reply, but Persephone speaks before he can.

"That would go over well," she says, drifting in from the hallway.

Her eyes land on Nico, and there's a flash of something incensed there. Just for a second. Then she schools her face and regards him coolly.

"It's not necessarily a bad look for him, all things considered," she says.

Hades drops into a seat.

"Persephone. He is trying to _coerce_ one of my children. Do not make light of it."

Demeter's loud voice arrives at least five seconds before the rest of her.

"His _child_ , well! Imagine, someone trying to steal your _child!_ That is a completely foreign concept down here! How tragic!" She bustles in and spares Nico a glance. "At least he's not _dead_ , or I don't know, _engaged_ , hm?"

At this point Nico would rather be pretty much anywhere else. Preferably wherever Hazel was. He buries his head in his arms again.

Hades splutters about something Nico doesn't care to listen to, and he counts to ten before he sits back up.

"Listen, the problem is I have wings and Cupid wants to rip them off."

Now Hades is rolling his eyes, except there's something very angry in the set of his jaw.

"Intimidation tactics," he says. "He doesn't want to rip them off, he wants you to accept. Eros has always been stupidly proud of our mutual distaste. As usual, he and his little band have atrocious taste in past times."

He looks at Nico, then his gaze flits to the wings.

"I'm sure that you're my child is no coincidence. This is probably very entertaining for him. Idiot."

"So, what? This is some stupid game of tag? This is getting dangerous. I can't use my power, and those guys keep coming after me."

"Life is so hard," Demeter says.

Nico is about to snap back when Hades holds up a hand.

"Your power- you can't call the shadows?"

Nico nods.

"That's bright. Are they trying to adopt him or kill him?" Persephone says, shaking her head.

Demeter turns to Hades. "Well well. This certainly changes things- what will you do? Declawing your youngest son- kind of an open threat, hm?"

Nico notices then how expectant Persephone and Demeter look. They're leaning forward, attention almost aggressively focused on Hades. Their eyes glow with something bright- anticipation, he recognizes it from hungry strays and a daughter of Ares he met once. He recognizes it from Roman council members and Octavian.

There's a long moment of silence. Hades brushes something off his sleeve.

"No matter how juvenile," he begins, straightening the sleeve. "A threat is a threat. If he wants to invite my _attention_ , he will receive it in the form of retaliation."

He looks back down at Nico. "I don't intend to deny you the satisfaction of your own payback, but-"

"There will be time for that later," Persephone says, stepping forward. "Our time is now, Hades.

Nico clears his throat. "Um, can't we just remove the wings somehow? Send them back in a box with a nasty note or something. I don't think this is _that_ serious, I mean, it's me who bothered him first-"

Persephone laughs. "Oh, Nico. You've picked up a sense of humor since the last time I saw you. This is deeper than wings."

She looks to Hades. "He created two prisoners that day. Don't forget that."

Hades takes a deep breath.

"I dare not."

Nico gets the feeling he's in the room with something much bigger than him. It just makes him more desperate for Hazel to get here, so he won't be the only human among gods. He's getting used to it the more time his spends at his father's beck and call, but things are always so much older, so much _more_.

Also he's not sure if this is how his father and Persephone flirt or what, but they're creeping him out with how they're staring each other down. Demeter seems more concerned with the nutritional information on one of the cereal boxes now than anything.

Nico scoots the chair back.

"My sister and her friends are coming, so I'm gonna go, um, wait for them," he says. "Maybe she's thought of something."

As he leaves he gets the sinking feeling he shouldn't have come here.

 

 

 

Nico ends up wandering along the River Styx, mumbling hellos at the souls that bother to greet him. He returns curious glances to the wings with a glare. Wings aside, it's not good to be too approachable. People get ideas about him being the boss' son sometimes, and the whispers and bargaining and desperation could fray anyone's rope.

If he's honest with himself, he's more than a little worried about Hazel showing up down here.

Yeah, their dad had awarded her the gift of looking the other direction for eternity. Nico is still five hundred percent against testing that in any way.

But maybe he's being paranoid. Hazel is a hero. The _real_ child of prophecy. She earned it, and on top of that, she could stand up to anyone who challenged it. He's pretty sure he'd beat her in ripping anyone who said otherwise limb to limb, shadow powers or not.

The wings still hurt, hanging from his frame like lead weights, although taking off the hoodie helped. Trying to hide them from Hazel would be an insult, so he tries to get used to moving them. They seem to be supercharged, able to propel him forward with just a beat. There's something about the glowing at the corners of his eyes that strains them- it's _bright_ , in a sinister, unforgiving kind of way. Like light you can't hide from. Just like Cupid's cold voice, stripping its target bare with words that are pinpoint accurate like arrows.

It isn't until Nico sits down near a huge boulder that he realizes how tense he is. He releases his jaw and takes a deep breath. It aches, and he finds he's shaking.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," he whispers, ducking his head down.

 

 

Hazel arrives by her own method- bursting out from a tunnel near Charon's dock. Her eyes dart around until they land on Nico.

Before Nico can say anything, she tackles him into a hug. Then she pushes him back, staring at the wings.

"Did they get bigger?" She says, before hugging him again.

"Don't say that," Nico mutters. He looks behind her and sees Frank Zhang and Reyna climbing out of the rubble.

His heart calms with the sight of Reyna, maybe by habit. She brushes her arm off after stepping over a boulder and looks up at the sheer vastness of the Underworld, eyes wide. Then they land on him. A smile turns into a frown and alarm mars her features.

"Hazel wasn't kidding." she says, eyeing the wings.

Nico shifts, something in him burning with shame from the way Reyna looks at them- him- with fascination. Like they're something wondrous, something dangerous.

Frank's caught in the same way, wide eyed and wary. "Those are-"

"Unwanted," Hazel says. "An unwanted gift."

She catches Nico's eye and smiles at him.

"We'll get rid of them. See what we can do about that guy's return policy."

The conversation with Hades and Persephone comes back to him.

"Um, about that. Dad's...pretty angry."

Hazel's face drops."Like... _angry_?" 

Nico guesses she's worried. Hades is impulsive at the best of times, and his temper at the tiniest slight is legendary. 

"Yeah. Persephone too," he says.

All the color drains from Hazel's face. Nico doesn't get it. She looks like he just waved a red cape in front of the minotaur.

"I mean...that's a little surprising, I guess. She's usually pretty unimpressed," he says.

He's missing something here. It reminds him of how Hades and Persephone were on another level back at the palace.

"They were more angry than usual, maybe," he says, mind racing to figure out what Hazel is getting at with that face.

"I need to talk to you," Hazel murmurs.

Reyna looks from Nico to Hazel.

"Is there a problem with talking here?" She asks, and her voice leaves Nico no room to attempt a subject change.

He and Hazel look to each other. From her expression, she feels as helpless as he does.

"Okaaay," Frank says, stepping next to Reyna. "How about we get everything on the table when everyone gets here. Jason's coming, right? We set up a war room and-"

He stops and glances at Hazel and Nico, like he just remembered where they were.

"Well, I mean, I don't know if we can do that here. Can we like...go anywhere else?"

"My father is in the palace. Probably not a good idea to go in there," Nico says. "Jason's probably going to have to use the Door of Orpheus. We wait by his steps. It shouldn't take too long."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keeping track of everything in pjo canon is so difficult :| plus further research into mythology is so entertaining I just get lost.  
> also I went with the version of the myth where Hades was struck by Eros' arrow- and going with the Persephone dread queen of the underworld angle because I don't know it's the most interesting dynamic to explore while still in bounds with the lightness of pjo.
> 
> sorry I took so long, I hope you enjoy \o/ next chapter...we return to jason, piper, percy and will's no doubt exhilirating shenanigans


	5. Anyways, here's Wonderwall

"I dunno, maybe you guys aren't singing loud enough," Percy says, shimmering through a misty rainbow in the sprinkler spray. "It worked before. Except we had Grover. Maybe we should call Grover."

Will stops strumming the guitar he'd borrowed from a busker. Next to him, Piper flops down on a rock.

"If I have to sing one more round of 'Wonderwall'..." she mutters.

"It'd help if you knew any words other than the chorus," Percy says.

"It'd help if I was actually good with a guitar," Will adds.

"Maybe it doesn't work anymore?" Jason says, crossing his arms and staring at the rocks like they stole his team's flag.

Will is surprised they don't just crumble to dust right then.

Percy's rainbow evaporates, but no one makes a move to throw another drachma in.

"I mean, should we just head to the entrance in California...? That's going to take too long."

Will sets the guitar down. "Way too long. I'm gonna go give the guitar back. We need to figure out what to do now."

"What to do about what?" a raspy voice asks from behind them.

Everyone whirls around, Jason stepping in front of Piper in the blink of an eye.

The old busker Will borrowed the guitar from stands there, eyebrows raised.

No one says anything for a long moment.

_Not good._

"Uh," Will manages, feeling like someone should speak. "Just...a big performance we're doing."

"Oh, that brings me back," the man says. His eyes are mostly obscured by a big floppy hat and wiry facial hair, but his toothless grin is impossible to miss. "What will you play?"

Will looks to Piper and Jason, mouth agape. Their expressions are stuck between 'oh crap' and 'act casual'.

Piper speaks up. "We're trying to get 'Wonderwall' down. Nothing special!" She throws in a big smile. "Really."

She's right. They aren't even doing anything unusual, why is he worried? He doesn't feel like he should be worried.

It takes him a second to realize- right. Daughter of Aphrodite. He should know charmspeak when he hears it.

The old man seems unphased. "Nonsense! I wouldn't mind acting as a test audience! I played some big shows in my heyday. Consider it free coaching."

Piper looks to Jason, then Will, somehow not dropping the smile despite her nervousness.

"Um, I guess so...how about it, guys? One, two, three...?"

Will strums the saddest chord he's ever heard, and he's strummed some bad ones. Piper joins in slightly late after a few chords, and Jason adds some off-beat jean slapping percussion.

After a solid minute of terrible, terrible improvisation, they come to an ungraceful halt. Will actually feels even more dejected than he did a few minutes ago.

The silence is broken by the old guy's clapping.

"Not bad!" he says. "But it's missing something. Moxie. Conviction. _Romance!_ How about a love song?"

Will coughs out a laugh, and looks over at Piper and Jason. "Um..."

"I don't know too many of those," Piper says.

The old guy shakes his head vigorously, pointing a finger at her.

"Baloney! How about 'Bicycle Built for Two'? 'Darling Clementine'? 'Space Jam'?"

"'Space Jam'?" Piper mutters.

Jason rubs his head. "I guess we could try."

"Just think of your sweetheart! Feelings make all the difference."

Will hefts the guitar and tries to ignore the heavy feeling in his chest.

_Yeah. Think about your sweetheart._

_That's cool. He's probably only about fifty thousand feet beneath my feet right now._

He plucks out the first few notes of 'You are my Sunshine' - imagine that- and clears his throat.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine."

He's very aware of the fact that he hasn't received much of his dad's gift for music, but he's not worried about what an old street performer thinks of his vocal abilities. Just getting through the song so he goes away would be great.

"You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you-"

There's a scraping noise from behind him, and he wonders what Piper and Jason are doing.

"Oh please don't take my sunshine away."

Will finishes up with an awkward little chord, and turns to see what happened.

Apparently, while he was blessing them all with the Ballad of Debatable Musicality, the rocks have crumbled away to reveal a pitch black chasm. Piper and Jason stare at it, dead silent.

Will can't believe the song worked. His mind races as he tries to gather up an explanation.

"Uh, must be a minor earthqu-"

The old guy is gone.

"Looks like we got our entrance," Piper says, eyes still glued to where the rocks split.

"I'm pretty sure that guy wasn't all human," Jason says, glaring at where the old guy was.

Will sets the guitar against a tree. He has a feeling he won't be finding its owner again.

He walks over and peers into the split. It's useless- too dark to see anything.

"Well, he did help us. I think. Should we go down this?" he asks.

Piper shrugs. "Not like there's much of an alternate plan. Jason?"

Jason doesn't say anything as he checks that his gladius is secure at his side. He finally nods, running a hand through his hair.

"Let's go. Be ready for anything," he says. "I've...I've never gone to the Underworld. I don't know what to expect."

Will swallows, and he hopes his nervousness isn't as obvious as it feels.

Jason looks at them, face grim. "Both of you, if we run into anything...let me do the heavy hitting. Keep yourself out of harm's way. Piper, use charmspeak if you think it'll help, but I don't think we can rely on things working the same past this point."

"I mean, Nico lives down there half the time," Will blurts out. "It can't be that bad."

It takes a second for Will to realize what he said, and both Jason and Piper are looking at him with a mixture of surprise on Jason's part and curiosity on Piper's.

"Um, I mean...even if it was, Nico might need our help, so shouldn't we go, like, now?"

Piper smiles. "Point. Let's get this show on the road."

Then she leaps through the opening.

"Piper!" Jason says, before scrambling after her.

Will closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

_Smooth, Will._

He slips through the rocks a second later.

 

 

 

For all that Jason had hyped them up, there wasn't much else in the tunnel to the Underworld besides...stairs. Lots of stairs. Will tries to imagine Orpheus climbing up the stairs, trying not to look back, and decides he probably looked back out of sheer boredom. Or maybe his legs were killing him.

"How much longer," Piper groans, looking up from her magical dagger thing.

"Guess it takes awhile," Jason says. He tries to look optimistic, but Will's pretty sure he's getting impatient too.

'Awhile' turns out to be a brief eternity, before they _finally_ emerge onto a stretch of black sand next to a rushing river.

Piper lets out a yelp of happiness and hop-skips onto the sand, scattering it everywhere. "YES! FREEDOM!"

Jason looks around them. "The River Styx, right? Never thought I'd see this. Well, alive."

"Yeah," Will says. "Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, huh? Ugh, this place is..."

He hates to admit it, but he feels downright ill. There's only black sand and black rock, darkness beneath them and darkness above. No sunshine reaches down in these depths, and he feels...isolated.

"Stagnant," Jason murmurs. He's right. There's no wind either.

In the distance looms what must be the palace of Hades.

Even Piper has finished kissing the sand and sobers up. "Do you think we should head straight there?"

"Guys!"

Will's anxiety loses to his relief as Hazel Levesque bounds towards them, gleaming in her bright colors and shiny bracelets. Piper catches her in a big hug.

Behind her, the two praetors from the Roman camp, Frank and Reyna, walk side by side, one hundred percent leaders with their large strides and fluttering capes. But it's Nico, trailing slowly behind them all, that makes Will's breath catch.

He forgets everything he wanted to lecture Nico about accepting immortality from weird gods even if it's a fake-out, and going in the forest alone, and not asking him for help, and everything else except for Nico, with a glow like the sun itself. It's all wrong.

He can't stop himself from beelining past everyone, straight for him. Nico visibly starts when he looks up, but Will's eyes are stuck on the two wings on Nico's back. They're radiant, sunbeams in dark caves, _beautiful_ \- but so, so wrong. Nico is hunched over in a way that he hasn't been for a while.

"Do they hurt?" Will asks. All of Will's affection and nervousness takes a backseat to growing irritation.

What if this has taken too long? What if they've missed a critical response period? Why is it always the eleventh hour with these heroes?

The sour look on Nico's face speaks volumes.

"Lemme see," Will says.

Nico frowns. "It's not that bad."

Will crosses his arms, resisting the urge to poke Nico's forehead. "The last time you told me that, you had an infection and attempted to become the first invisible camper. Did you enjoy your extended bedrest that much, Di Angelo?"

Nico licks his lips and tosses his hair back. Will recognizes it from the little arguments they've had too many times - he's gearing up for a debate.

Will cuts him off. "No, I did not come down to the Underworld to argue about your welfare, I came because I need to make sure you're not inflicted with some kind of fatal duck-transformation disease, so you stay still and let me do my _job_ , okay?"

Nico doesn't reply, and Will would be satisfied, except Nico is bright red as he looks past him. Will turns to find everyone watching and...well, there's Piper's face again, and now Will realizes that he really needed to be worried about the kid of Aphrodite in their group, not Hazel. She _knows._

It's Hazel that steps closer and breaks the silence. "Nico, let him check and make sure everything is okay. I mean...who knows what they are. And if they're hurting..."

Will can already tell from Nico's face that he would take up professional wrestling if Hazel asked him to.

"Fine. But not here." And that's all Nico says before he and Hazel start heading towards the castle, talking under their breaths rapidly.

Frank hurries after them, tossing Will, Jason, and Piper a helpless smile and shrugging. "Good to see you guys again. I mean. In general, not like it's good that this- we're here- you know what I mean."

Jason grins, glancing at Reyna. "Got it, bro."

Frank picks up his pace and jogs after Hazel.

Reyna clears her throat. "In less words, I believe I agree with Frank- I wish we met under less...unsettling circumstances."

"Tell me about it," Piper says. "Chiron says it's Cupid's brothers."

"They came and offered Nico some kind of deal, Reyna," Jason says, and motions for them to head after the others. "And there's an expiration date."

"Cupid. You met him before the war, right? Bad blood?"

"Probably? I can't really- All I can tell you is that he didn't make nice with Nico."

Will doesn't say anything, but he is dying to know what that means. Piper doesn't seem to know either, shrugging when Will looks to her.

"It's probably a good thing you've brought Piper. She might have an upper hand if we're dealing with a god of love. Will, you'll be playing support, correct?"

He's caught off guard. "I, yeah, pretty much. I mean..."

It doesn't sound very impressive now, being here as their field medic.

"Will was there first," Jason says. "I don't know how things would have gone if I didn't hear the commotion. I mean...we all _felt_ them arrive. And Will got a dream from Apollo. This is big. "

Reyna stops short and snaps her head. "Apollo? You got a vision from Apollo? Is he back?"

Will tries to meet her eyes, but it's like looking at a lightbulb. She's kind of intense.

"I- I don't know. It wasn't like, a _prophecy_ \- I don't really have much of the gift of prophecy beyond the normal dreams. But they've been gone since Dad got grounded. This was the first one in two years."

Reyna frowns. "That's not exactly comforting," she says. "What did you see?"

Now everyone's attention is focused on Will. He searches out Nico, a little smudge of pitch black and luminous white up ahead. He, Frank, and Hazel have stopped in front of huge black gates.

"A throne," Will says. "Nico was there- but he wasn't _Nico_ , you know? His eyes were red. And he had a different sword...black armor. That's all, really."

He remembers what he's here for. "I'm worried about those wings. I'm pretty sure they hurt more than it shows, and I don't like the 'three days' business. I really don't like it."

"It is...a new feeling," Reyna begins after a moment. "There seems to be no motive. No desire to attack. What can we do if nothing else happens?"

"I find them, and force them to back the fuck off," Nico says loudly, finishing it off with a curl of his lip.

They've caught up to the gates, and Will's sure looking up towards the top for too long would give you major neck pain.

"Nico! Watch your mouth," Hazel says.

"Better yet, we approach this like civilized demigods," Reyna adds.

"Are we gonna go see Hades?" Will asks Nico.

There's a sudden drop in air pressure.

"Not necessary," Nico mutters, looking at something behind Will.

He turns to see who approaches, and the sight chills his blood.

The lord of the underworld strides up along the blank sand, flanked by a skeleton in a suit and a beautiful, though imperious looking woman. She looks bored. Bored as... _hell_. Will mourns his career as a comedian.

Hades casts his gaze on each of them in turn. "I see you've assembled your confidantes, hm?"

No one speaks. Hades looks around like he's searching for someone.

"Where's Jackson? Isn't he usually foremost involved in this kind of annoyance? You always make sure of that."

That's a little weird. Why does he care about Percy? Will guesses the reach of Percy's exploits is expansive, even when it came to the gods.

Next to Will, Nico scowls and lifts his chin.

"The others are defending the camps."

"So... You managed to find another son of my brother to bring along," Hades drawls, hand flicking at Jason. Will feels slighted for him.

Jason is in full on leader mode, face stony and spine ramrod straight. Next to him, Reyna and Frank stand like marble statues.

Hades leans back, considering Jason. "A former praetor of New Rome at that... the current praetors as well? Hm."

His eyes flick to Hazel, who toes the sand behind Nico. She stays quiet, like the sand is the most fascinating thing she's seen today.

"Your sister, I'm not surprised. A daughter of Aphrodite, and a son of...Apollo? Interesting choices."

He looks to Piper, then finally Will, before his eyes narrow.

Will doesn't know about everyone else, but it's downright insulting to be reduced to lineage. Hades strips them down to their blood and position with pointed, sparse words.

Must be where Nico got his sharp edges from.

Will tries to see Nico and Hazel in the looming dark figure that stands above them, in the high cheekbones, and the shadowed eyes, and he can't help but think they must have taken after their mothers. Because yes, maybe the god of death is handsome in the way gods always are, but under Nico's pallor is some kind of warmth, and in his shoulders there is some kind of softness. Will's hand twitches, and he is dying to grab for Nico's- just to make sure he is still familiar and nothing like who stands in front of them.

Hades, who draws himself up further, and gestures to the gates.

"You'll come this way. We will be doing this my way from this point on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look Will and Nico finally said words to each other. *snailpace*  
> thanks everyone for your support, you guys are super inspiring, and I love hearing that I am not mangling your favorite character!  
> also operating under the assumption that according to Thanatos, Hazel's not on the lam, but she and Hades kinda keep it on the downlow.


	6. You can sleep on the couch. Or, well, whichever couch is your favorite. One of the couches.

"Please find the self control necessary to avoid wandering off," Hades says, not bothering to address anyone directly. "I'm not overly certain if Cerebus has finished his dinner, and I certainly can't speak for the Furies."

Hazel squeezes Frank's clammy hand to loosen his deathgrip.

"Sorry," he whispers.

Hazel smiles at him. "Relax," she says under her breath. "It's just my father."

"Right," Frank says. "Absolutely. Just your father. God of death."

"Among other things," Hades says loudly.

Jason is so close to Hades he's almost stepping on his heels. His eyes dart everywhere with undisguised curiosity. Hazel hopes his head doesn't fall off.

"What else do you reign over, sir? I mean...in this form," he asks.

It's the right question to ask. Hades holds his chin up a little higher and starts listing off his various domains. Jason nods like a bobblehead.

Piper shrinks back to walk with Will Solace, but Reyna matches Hades stride by stride, looking out over the sights of the underworld. If she's at all unnerved, she's hiding it like a pro, with measured reactions and arms tightly locked behind her back.

Nico keeps shooting questioning glances at her, and the longer she can't tell him the more nervous she feels.

After this, she can grab him aside and tell him everything, but for now-

They stop at an iron gate, lush greenery poking through the bars. Hades unlocks it and leads them into a beautiful garden.

Maybe beautiful is an understatement. Flowers of every color and vines of every type burst from all directions, expertly arranged. Hazel's never seen anything like it, not even at the mayor's garden back in New Orleans.

"This is... _gorgeous_ ," Piper says finally.

Persephone bows her head, face calm, but it's obvious she's fighting to suppress a proud smile. "My pleasure."

"In case there was any confusion, you are not to touch anything," Hades warns. "And you are _especially_ advised against _eating_ anything."

"Darn," Frank murmurs under his breath. Hazel holds back a giggle.

Persephone's hand drifts up to her mouth, and Hazel can't decide if it's hiding a laugh or a yawn.

A woman bustles towards them from a door into the house- it can only be Persephone's mother, from the golden glow radiating from her sunkissed skin. She looks massively out of place.

"Well, well- looks like you've brought in the cavalry! Is this really necessary?" she says, looking over Hazel and the others with a critical frown.

"It's for Nico's peace of mind. I'm sure they understand that I will be taking care of matters, as this is godly business."

"What?" Hazel says, narrowing her eyes. She didn't come down here to hear that. "Um, actually-"

Hades interrupts her. "This is not a quest. This is a threat. I would appreciate if you let Persephone and I deal with it. I even brought you a gift."

The skeletal man in the very expensive suit steps forward, tipping his hat.

Apparently, it's too much for Frank. Hazel grabs her hand back before he pops it off.

"This is Uncle Lucky. He will be accompanying you when you go up, to ensure Eros doesn't try anything incredibly stupid. He is very good at...many things."

The skeleton nods.

"He's our uncle?" Hazel asks. She's pretty sure they've never met. From the way Nico is squinting, neither has he.

Uncle Lucky's bones clatter a little. Hazel looks to Nico and he shrugs before turning back to Hades.

"We don't need a body guard. We can handle whatever you think Eros can get up to," he says.

Jason steps forward. "You don't need to worry- we're more than capable. Reyna and Frank command the Roman Legion. Piper can charmspeak a hunk of metal, and Will's the best healer in both camps."

"I'm so deathly assured," Hades says. "However, I want you and any other demigods to stay out of sight."

Hazel and Jason both open their mouths to protest, but Hades cuts them off again. "That means all of you. And your friends."

He pauses. "And Jackson. Especially Jackson."

Reyna's mouth tucks into a frown. "You want us to...do nothing?"

"Yeah, I mean, this is kind of serious," Jason says. "Both camps could be in danger."

"And that is why I will be posting Uncle Lucky's friends and the Furies as auxiliary guards at each camp, if that puts your minds at ease."

_What?_

"Since when do you care about the camps?" Nico says, trotting and leaning forward to get in Hades' face.

Hades glares him down with a look that could literally kill flowers. Nico shoots back one of his own, just as icy.

Hazel lunges for his hand and grabs it, praying that Nico will drop it. He does, but keeps his eyes on the back of Hades' head.

Like, _we're not done_. Gods, Nico, honestly? He might be their father but that doesn't mean Hades wouldn't do something ridiculous to make a point.

Or, well, maybe not...she imagines Nico's got a pretty good idea of what buttons he can press from experience.

Nico falls back to her shoulder with a sour look on his face.

Hazel tries to ignore Hecate's warning of war bouncing back and forth between her ears. The fact that Hades is blocking it off as a personal issue...well that all but confirms it, one hundred percent. Hecate was right, as usual.

"Can we _talk_ , like, soon?" she whispers as they are led inside.

Uncle Lucky leans sideways closer to them. She pushes him upright with a finger, trying not to shiver. Skeletons are not entirely her thing.

"Everything okay?" He asks under his breath.

"Developments," she mutters. Nico straightens up.

"Gimme a sec," he says to her, before drawing himself up. "So does this mean that like, we don't even need to be here?" He asks loudly.

Hazel resists the urge to drop her face into her hands.

Hades turns, and Persephone eyes Nico with one brow raised.

"Because, I mean, I know _I_ have shit to get done before my three day deadline, and obviously you don't want us to _do_ anything-"

"Nico," Hades says, voice icy. "Not now. I'd appreciate if you let Persephone and I determine our next steps. You can wait in your room. We'll send you back topside when we have protections in place."

"Cool," Nico spits out, turning on his heel. "Come on."

He looks over to Uncle Lucky. "You stay here."

Hazel tries to keep a straight face until they've gotten to some sort of hallway inside, out of earshot. Then she explodes into giggles and smacks Nico on the back. "Criminy, Nico-"

"Got us out of there, right?" Nico asks, crossing his arms.

"I thought he was going to turn you into chimney soot," she says breathlessly. "You are so- so-"

"Over the top?" Will offers from behind them. "Pretty sure I was having war flashbacks of my younger siblings' temper tantrums, Di Angelo."

"Dramatic yet effective," Reyna says, picking up her pace with a flutter of her cape. "You have a room down here?"

"Yeah man, you never told me that," Jason says.

"You never needed to know," Nico mutters.

Hazel is curious. She's seen slices of Nico's room in the Underworld through Iris messages, she knows it's...dark, but she's never seen it in person.

"Your dad is kinda...funny," Piper says.

Frank turns to grimace at her. "There's words I have to describe Hades and 'funny' isn't one of them."

"No, just..." Piper trails off, and when she speaks again her voice is quiet. "He really does treat you like his kids. He's so...involved."

Hazel smiles weakly. Involved is the last thing she'd consider her father. She's been used to radio silence her entire life.

"I don't know about that," Nico says, apparently reading her mind. "He's always running off to do things his way. Trying to keep us 'safe' in little boxes. You have to pretty much shout in his face to get him to snap out of it."

"You don't say," Will cuts in with a shocked look. "Wow, that's so unlike anyone I know!"

It's the second time Hazel double takes at Will Solace. Normally, she would be sending some dark thoughts to anyone who put that expression on her brother's face, but-

There's something about the look Will aims at Nico- she sees it on Frank's face every time she's selling him on some zany battle plan.

She doesn't know Will very well, but she's starting to think she should probably get to know him better.

 

 

Hazel is learning that Hades _might_ have a flair for the dramatic. Just a little.

All seven of them can walk in the main hallways side by side. Every couple feet, they find some kind of epic sculpture or frieze depicting terrible punishments or great accomplishments. The architecture changes wildly, from atriums with fifty foot ceilings to back passages that have Jason stooping over. There are skeleton guards everywhere, and bone sculptures too, great walls of skulls and skeletons frozen in heroic acts. Hazel wonders if that bothers the guards.

"Is this real?" Frank asks as they walk over what must be a sixty foot long snakeskin, acting as a hallway runner.

Nico shrugs. "Yeah, I guess."

Frank swallows and moves to walk on the bare floor instead.

"Your family is weird," he whispers to Hazel. "No offense."

Hazel laughs. "None taken."

She is just as surprised as Frank. She's never been here, never been invited to the palace of the dead, and it's...well, mind-blowing. For every reminder that this isn't quite the man she remembers as her father, there is another reminder that he is one and the same. In addition to all its grim austerity, the place is gilded in expensive materials Hazel can't even name. Every surface looks _expensive_ , and she finds that it brings her some kind of peace- her jewels are nothing special here, not sinister glinting things in the dirt. They _belong_ here.

Finally, Nico stops in front of an iron doorway with a skeleton guard on either side.

"No one gets in," Nico says to them, before opening the door and ushering everyone inside.

Hazel expects a small room, like a guest room. Maybe some kind of teenage oasis plastered in skull posters and crumpled clothing.

The room she's looking at is...well, 'room' is an understatement, for starters. Executive suite might be a better term. A huge sitting room decked in dark grey slate and filled with cream colored couches sprawls out in front of them. A gigantic flat screen TV takes up the wall over a long fireplace filled with blue fire, surrounded by a massive array of game consoles. She can see more rooms off to the side, through ten foot tall arched doorways.

Frank voices what everyone is probably thinking. "This is your _room_?"

"It's huge!" Jason says, and yeah, that was an echo.

"It's beautiful," Reyna murmurs, running a hand along a blanket across the back of a couch.

Nico slinks past towards one of the other rooms. "It's half yours, too, Hazel. I'm gonna change real quick."

Hazel watches him disappear, eyes wide. So somewhere down here, all this time, there's been a penthouse suite waiting for her.

She can only imagine how her mama's eyes would have lit up. It makes her angry for some reason. Angry at her mother, angry at her father, angry at...something.

But it's not a good time to be angry, because Frank is leaning against the couch and looking at her like 'now what?'.

Will Solace looks like he wishes he were anywhere but here. Piper looks like she's seen this all before. Jason looks like someone's kept secrets from him, and Reyna is just staring hard in the direction Nico went.

"So there's a little problem," Hazel announces, because she feels like it's time. "There is totally a prophecy."

"What?" Reyna and Frank say together, heads snapping to stare at her.

"From Apollo?" Will asks. His face is pale.

Hazel shakes her head and sits down on one of the couches, sinking into cool leather. Everyone comes to gather around her, and she leans forward. Any uncertainty lingering in her mind burns to a crisp when she sees their faces. These are the friends she took on an army with. She can trust them.

"Hecate told it to me. The point is...even if Hades doesn't want us to interfere, we're in this now. The wings might only be the beginning."

Jason and Piper share a look. "The beginning of what?" Jason asks. "What was the prophecy?"

_"Shadow meets light, cures what severs._

_The enduring feud, buried by feathers._

_Lovers' love brings the only calm,_

_In the world's middle lies the only balm."_

Jason barely lets her finish before speaking. "Shadow. Nico, I guess. Feathers- the wings?"

Hazel holds up a hand.

"Hecate said there's more at stake- that this could start a war. Some kind of old rivalry," she says.

"The part about love...does it mean Cupid?" Piper asks.

"It means we need to get out of here," Nico's voice rings out.

He stands in the doorway, eyes burning. The wings stick out from his shoulders rigidly.

"Why didn't you tell me this was a prophecy thing? They gave me three days! We're probably wasting time down here."

"Well, I didn't exactly have a chance, between all the sightseeing," Hazel shoots back. "Cupid's trying to stir up our father, you know that, right?"

Nico frowns. "It's working then, isn't it, because he and Persephone are getting more and more pissed off! What else did Hecate tell you?"

Hazel feels her face get warm. Why is he jumping on _her_?

"Don't get snappy with me, Nico, I'm just as lost as you are! That's all she said- I'm not hiding anything."

Nico stares at her from the dark room, face strained, before he sighs.

"I'm sorry."

Hazel takes a deep breath and remembers that this is her brother. Her family.

Her anger seeps away and she can only smile.

"I'm sorry too," she says. "We won't get anywhere if we let this get to us."

"Right," Jason says from behind her. "So what's the plan, Hades kids?"

Good question. Hazel chews over Hecate's words for a moment. There must some sort of clue within them.

"A balm...," Piper murmurs. "I think the most important bit is the last line. A balm in the world's middle? That's a really weird way to describe something. Where's the middle of the world?"

Reyna runs fingers over her braiding, twirling it down her shoulder. "And 'balm' implies a cure."

Jason glances at Nico. "A cure for the wings, maybe?"

"Or a cure for the 'enduring feud'," Nico says. He taps his fingers against his arm, then grimaces. "Either way, we should probably get out of here while we can- although, um, I'm super thirsty. Are any of you hungry or anything?"

"I'll take a drink. What do you have?" Reyna asks.

Nico answers from another room, voice muffled. "Everything."

"Sweet tea?" Hazel calls, trying not to get her hopes up.

"You're getting predictable in your old age," Frank says with a grin.

Nico comes back with a tray of tall glasses, each one filled with picture perfect golden tea and topped with a lemon wedge. Hazel forgives godly magic for the moment.

"Respect your elders, kid," Nico says, but he's about two steps away from a smile.

Will clears his throat.

Hazel turns to look at him. Will's been by the door the entire time, fidgeting with a bandage he's got wrapped around his wrist. She almost feels bad, because wow he's said maybe five words since they've entered the room and she's barely noticed.

"I just- is leaving a good idea?" he asks. "What's our next step? Our lead is a medicine, seems kind of...vague. Medicine for what? And we don't really have enough supplies to just start off on a search. Or transportation."

"True," Jason says. He takes a glass of tea. "A medicine...oh, what about that doctor? The one in Greece?"

Piper straightens up. "Asclepius?"

"You met Asclepius?" Will says, eyes wide. "Like, _the_ Asclepius?"

"How are we gonna get to Greece?" Frank mutters.

"I have his direct line!" Jason exclaims.

He flushes when all eyes land on him. "I mean. In case I need to follow up. I'm pretty sure my glasses prescription's not immortal, you know?"

Hazel bites her lip. It's really all they have to go on at the moment, save tracking down Cupid and pulling out his feathers one by one until he says 'uncle'.

"Do you really think he'll be able to help?"

"If anyone can cure wingitis, it's Asclepius," Will says, suddenly energized and positively glowing, like someone fed him Popeye's spinach.

Hazel wonders if it's because it's a lead or it's because he'll meet some kind of Apollo kid idol. She wants to tell him about the last time they got a 'cure' from a god.

_This isn't a game._

Resentment drips down her spine, icy cold, and she tries to brush it away. Will's been nothing but proactive, and he wouldn't have come down here if he wasn't worried about Nico.

"We'll call him first," she says, standing up and shooting Will a _look_. "We don't have time to spend tracking him down unless it's a sure thing."

Then Nico's next to her, hand on her shoulder.

"Hazel. I'll take care of the deadline if it comes up," he says. "And we can get where we need to go. But right now, you just need to worry about figuring out what the prophecy means. I've got the eyes in the air covered, but we need feet on the ground."

Hazel looks at her own feet, and sees that diamonds have pushed through the obsidian tiles around her to stud the floor.

"Soooo," Piper says, "Think we can use those to get an Iris message going?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry for the wait, this and the next couple chapters are kinda pivotal and I needed to figure out what I was doing hahaha and of course, distractions are in no short supply.  
> have I mentioned I find it really hard to get into Hazel and Will's heads for some reason? I wanna do them justice but they're just kinda...complex, Hazel especially considering her back story and general heroism. like, can I KNOW MORE???  
> and I am so ready to split everyone up...writing large groups is exhausting. anyways, hope you enjoy!


	7. seventeen year old with black jeans and a black card

"Okay so wait are we calling him Cupid or Eros? Because they might mean different things-"

"We're sorry but the doctor is currently OUT, please leave a name and number and we will return the call within the next ten years-"

Nico tries to block out the conversations on either side of the room, focusing on the shadows under the couch. They lap at his feet, but coaxing them to do anything else is fruitless. He gives it one more try, one more pull, before exhaling and returning to the present.

"Any luck," Will says _right next_ to his ear.

Nico manages not to flinch, but he does lean away from where Will sits.

"No," he says, hiding his burning cheek with a casual scratch. "It's like..."

_They're scared. They're hiding under the couch like a timid animal._

"Don't force it," Will says. His face is stern, and he hasn't taken his eyes off Nico when Nico looks back at him.

"The last thing we need is for you to strain yourself. We don't even know what those wings really are, let alone what they're doing to you or what your limits are."

Nico wishes Will wasn't sitting so close, because Will makes him kind of-

Nervous isn't the word. But whatever the word is, it hasn't gone away in two summers and maybe Nico looks forward to it sometimes but definitely not miles below ground in the house of his father.

Hazel steps in front of them to sit herself on the ottoman, resting her chin on her hands. Little lights play off her face, gleaming from the rainbows. Jason and Piper are listening to a list of IM extensions on their left, and Frank and Reyna are trying to listen to Percy on their right.

"Any luck?" Hazel asks.

"Not really," Nico says, closing his eyes to avoid hers.

Because without his powers, he's the most vulnerable person in the room.

He has suddenly become a liability.

"Is Annabeth still on?" he says, jumping up from the couch.

He needs to make himself useful, before everything goes to shit.

Annabeth looks up through the shimmering prism as he approaches, stopping halfway through a list of locations claimed by Cupid.

Her eyes go straight to the wings. "Woa. They weren't kidding."

Percy pushes into view, mouth agape. "Okay, Nico, I really really need to know if you've joined Jason's flight crew now. Do they work?"

"I need to get rid of them," Nico says, ignoring Percy. "Isn't there some kind of wing-destroying sword or magic amulet we can go find?"

Annabeth frowns. "I can ask Chiron, but...I don't think this is quite that easy, if Hades and Persephone are gearing up for a fight."

"We might want to start looking into offensive measures," Reyna says, catching Nico's eye.

She stares at him with heavy intent.

"There are at least three active threats out there. We need to protect the camps, but it would be foolish to think they wouldn't pay Nico another visit."

"So we create a guard," Jason says from behind them. "Me, Hazel, Piper, Will- we go with Nico to Asclepius. Will might be able to get us in easier. Reyna and Frank hold New Rome. Percy and Annabeth hold camp."

It's quickly falling into the hero machine, a well-planned, strong strategy that covers all the bases.

It's not going to work because none of them have been _down here_ and seen the things his father keeps in check, and Jason's met Cupid but he wasn't shot with an arrow that rips the mind apart to favor the heart. They have no clue what Nico's done in the way of an internship, the subterfuge and the discovery of things better kept away from even half-mortal eyes.

This is not monster hunting or war games, this is dirty work as only gods can entertain- in the most ancient, messy, monstrous of ways.

The wings on his back are heavier now than ever, the shadows lie mournful and still, and all he can think is that it was a mistake involving his friends.

He needs a weapon, not a medicine.

"You got in touch with Asclepius then?" Hazel asks.

Jason shakes his head. "There's a branch office somewhere in Florida, though. Naples? We can try to catch him there."

"Florida," Will says, right next to Nico again. Nico definitely doesn't remember Will being so...stealthy.

"I don't think more than three should go," Annabeth says.

Everyone is silent.

Percy takes it upon himself to break it. "What? Why?"

"Rule of three, Seaweed Brain."

"Yeah, but when Gaea-"

"We had a prophecy. And it was still a nightmare. Remember how many monsters we were shooting down? I don't think we're at that level of urgency yet."

"This is pretty urgent," Will says, voice tinged with anger.

"It's bad, yeah, but we have an opportunity to move under the radar here," Annabeth explains.

"That's a good point," Reyna says. She stands slowly, beginning to pace the length of the couch. "So who goes?"

"Hazel," Nico says in perfect harmony with Hazel's loud 'me'.

Jason shakes his head. "I think we should bring Piper. She might have some advantage if we run into any of those guys."

Nico knows it's a solid argument, but it doesn't change his mind- he needs Hazel because he wants her nearby, where he knows for himself she's safe. He wants someone who knows the territory, and if Reyna can't come, at least he knows he can trust Hazel to handle any complications with levelheadedness.

"I think I should go."

Nico turns to gape at Will, whose face is calm as he looks around, like he's waiting for anyone to challenge him.

Protests build up in his throat- then he thinks about it.

Will, like Reyna, has seen Nico do terrible things. If it came to that...

Jason interrupts Nico's thoughts. "Sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea."

Behind him, Frank is nodding.

Nico surprises himself with the sound of his own voice.

"Why not?"

It throws Jason for a loop, but he gets into 'I'm gonna win this argument' mode, crossing his arms and shifting on his feet.

"It could be dangerous, Nico. It _will_ be dangerous."

"Yeah," Will says, leaning forward. "Someone could get dangerously _injured_. All the better to have a medic on hand! It's not like I don't fight, either. Ask anyone at camp."

Percy pipes in with a small 'true, man'.

Will nods, apparently happy with the affirmation. "Plus, I had a dream. From my dad. That's huge! There could be more."

"If it was a prophetic dream...you might be right. We should try to reach Apollo." Hazel says. Nico can see the wheels turning in her head, she's warming up to the idea for whatever reason. Not what he expected.

Jason huffs in exasperation. "But if it's just you three...I mean, what if Cupid confronts you guys?" he says.

"Then we hold him off until we can retreat?" Hazel says, lifting an eyebrow. "That's old hat. We'll be fine."

Nico knows Frank's convinced from the droop of his shoulders. That didn't take long.

"Right! He could show up anywhere," Will says. "He might try to 'recruit' even more demigods. I think small and under the radar is better."

Frankly, Nico's kind of impressed with Will's reasoning- he's finding himself oddly agreeable to this plan.

Jason, on the other hand, looks forty percent worried and sixty percent frustrated.

"I couldn't choose better companions for the journey," Reyna says, glancing sidelong at Jason.

Jason wilts even more now that all allies have abandoned him.

"I...I don't like this plan," he says, turning to Piper.

She plays with a strand of her hair, looking contemplative.

"It makes sense," she says, shrugging. "Right now, there isn't much of a plan at all. If we do it Will's way, you and I can move faster on any actual leads. We can work with Annabeth on next steps and cover camp at the same time. And it's just as dangerous for you to be running around without a bodyguard as it is Nico or Hazel."

Piper looks over them, her usual smile gone.

"I mean, I think we might need to look into contacting Aphrodite as well. She might know something about dealing with Eros. I know maybe a love god isn't as scary as say, Ares or Orion running amok, but this is giving me a bad feeling. A real bad feeling."

It's then Nico notices the tension in her stance- Piper might be distantly related to these guys.

He knows how that feels. He's learned of certain other children of Hades, the atrocities they'd committed. Might've experienced them firsthand, too, if his research is right, except those memories are lost to him.

Will cuts through his thoughts, voice bright and sharp like a knife.

"Then it's settled. We'll go to Asclepius- try to get a handle on a prescription for wingitis. At the very least, try to get a lead on Apollo."

Jason does not look happy, but Piper speaks for him. "We'll do some research. Work on getting Aphrodite's thoughts."

"Probably should get the eagles ready, huh?" Frank says.

Reyna claps a hand on Frank's shoulder. "Great idea. And we can create a war room at Camp Jupiter."

And Nico will find a weapon. But there's something they'll have to figure out first.

"Well, not like we can avoid him forever..." he says, running the options through his mind. "But we should probably get out of here before my father decides to ground us or something."

 

 

 

It's not hard to slip out of the Underworld undetected, at least not if you've made it a weekly habit like Nico has. Shadow travel doesn't come as easily to Hazel, but using the tunnels lessens the amount of effort required.

They have to make a few stops- Hazel ricochets off the DoA records hub and lands them near Camp Jupiter. Nico and Reyna share a fist bump while Hazel and Frank give each other sappy looking goodbyes.

When they head to Orpheus' steps, Jason turns to Nico and grabs his sleeve.

"Be careful. Don't get in over your head. You're not on your own, you've got Hazel and Will to think about."

Nico nods, but he can't stop his mouth from twisting into a frown.

"Of course I know that. We'll be okay."

Jason holds his gaze for a second, then looks down.

"Sorry. I guess I need to trust you a little more. You three are more than capable. But..."

Then he's wrapped up in one of the tightest hugs he's ever gotten, even from Hazel.

"I'm not gonna stop worrying about you guys for one second. You need anything, just call and we'll be there before you can blink."

"Come on, Sparky," Piper says, and Jason's being tugged away.

Hazel nods. "We've got this under control, mom and dad."

"And I'll make sure everybody takes their vitamins," Will adds with a grin.

Nico finds that as the warmth from Jason's hug fades, it's replaced with a chill that sits on his skin like permafrost.

"We'll be careful," he says, meeting Jason's eyes. He can see his own unease reflected in them.

It's only when Jason and Piper zoom off into the dark sky over Central Park that the chill subsides with one deep breath. It's getting late.

Nico pulls his hoodie over the wings once more, tucking them against his back and sides.

"So...Florida then," Hazel says behind him.

Nico turns to her, trying to focus on their goals.

"Home sweet home!" Will exclaims.

"What?" Hazel asks. "Really? You're from Florida?"

Will just nods with a big smile. "My mom and siblings still live there."

"We should visit!" Hazel says.

"Are they, um, near...Orlando?" Nico asks, desperately trying to think of anything he knows about Florida.

He may have jumped to Disneyworld within a week of learning how to shadow travel, but that wouldn't sound very mature. And if he went back a few times, it was mostly for research into a birthday celebration for Hazel. Mostly.

Will frowns, like he's heard that a million times before. "Not really. It's nowhere near Naples, either, so we don't need to bother stopping by. Although..."

He tugs at his shirt and looks off into the distance. "It'll be pretty nice to see the ocean again."

"Think it can wait until morning? A good night's sleep would probably be a good start," Hazel says.

It only takes one mention of sleep to remind Nico how tired he is. It only takes one look at Hazel's drooping eyes and Will's slouch to confirm he's not the only one.

"Good idea," Will says, stretching his arms above his head. "Should we try to find a motel?"

His powers may be temporarily out of order, but his obsidian lifetime unlimited Bank of Hades credit card isn't. He figures he can introduce Will to one of the perks of being an Underworld staff member.

"I saw a good place over there," he says. "It's on me."

For some reason, they protest when they see the doorman holding the door open.

Hazel tugs his shirt, pulling him away from the smiling valet.

"Nico!" she hisses. "We can't afford this place! And you're not giving them anything I -- find."

As Hazel speaks, tiny gold flecks begin to glisten around her feet.

"Don't worry about it- Dad's footing the bill."

"Won't he be angry? He said to wait," Will asks, looking away nervously.

Nico rolls his eyes. Why is everyone scared of his father _now_? They tiptoe around him until it matters. He's nowhere near as mean as he'd like them all to think.

"He just doesn't like having us underfoot. For all he knows I got impatient and I'm going back to camp or something- it happens all the time."

Plus, it's not like he ever looks at the bills.

Nico beckons towards the door and waits for Hazel and Will to finally get a move on. They share a look- great, Will Solace and his sister are sharing a _look_ , Nico feels really good about this- but Hazel heads inside, nodding to the doorman and Will makes to follow.

Except he slings an arm around Nico's shoulder and tugs him along.

"I never knew you were so upper class, Grim," Will says, easy and smiling.

And suddenly Nico is _burning_. Maybe because Will Solace is pulling him close enough that if he took a big whiff Nico's sure to get a mouthful of antiseptic and sunshine and maybe because his sister is _right there_ and more than furious Nico's overjoyed-

He surges forward, away from Will, and beelines to the front desk. His face is red hot, and he's not sure if he's angry or embarrassed or both.

"'Scuse me," he blurts out, gripping the counter like he's going to lose his balance.

He might.

The desk clerk comes over, her eyes flicking from Nico to Hazel and Will behind him. Nico knows his face is still red so he fishes his black card out from his pocket and tosses it on the marble counter.

"I need a room with three beds," he announces.

The clerk, a woman with red hair in a sleek bun, gives them a very slow, very covert once over. Her eyebrow quirks ever so slightly.

"The only rooms for three or more we have are our premier suites. We can arrange for a cot-"

"I'll take one of those. The premier suites or whatever."

The woman stares at him. "I'm- I'm sorry, but- I have to check our availability, they're usually-"

Nico rolls his eyes and leans in. "Just give me the nicest, biggest one that's not taken. We'll figure it out."

The woman doesn't look convinced, but her fingers tap away on her computer for a few minutes. Finally, she leans back.

"We have a suite open on the 54th floor- two bedrooms and a veranda. It's $795 for a night," she says coolly, before she purses her lips. "$916 with tax."

Nico wrinkles his nose. He'd take the couch, then. Hazel needed her own space and there's no way he's sleeping in the same bed as Will, not with the way Nico's brain has been running rampantly in the wrong direction.

"Done. Can you send up extra blankets?"

The woman straightens up like she's been electrocuted.

"Yes Mr.-," she pauses, snatching up his card. "Di Angelo. May I ask if your trip is for business or pleasure?"

"Um... business." He looks at her nametag. "Donna."

Donna gets them checked in, with only one suspicious squint at Will when he bounced up to ask 'did she just say this room will be $900?'. She is vastly more hospitable when Nico's card goes through (with _loyalty points_ no less), handing them a folder with glossy service brochures and two slick keycards inside.

They take a very long elevator ride to the 54th floor with George the friendly bellhop. He leaves them with a huge smile and a huge tip.

Will drops his bag when the door glides open, and gives Nico a very disturbed look. "Is your dad hiring?"

Hazel just shakes her head, curls flying back and forth.

"Unbelievable," she says, but her smile is huge as she sees the fresh flowers and complimentary candy on the foyer bench.

It's a strange feeling. Nico's been in countless hotel rooms on the job, from century year old inns to beach resorts, but this feels...different. He is almost proud of the disbelief on Hazel's face, and the way Will gapes at the entryway ceiling. It is a thousand times better than the dark and silent nights Nico's been on his own, pacing unfamiliar hardwood floors and lying on designer pillows. Those hours were spent waiting for the night to end so he wouldn't be alone with only his thoughts for company. Now he's waiting for Hazel and Will to finish their exuberant room tour, and it's vastly more enjoyable.

There's a hissing noise from the bathroom, where Will is. "The shower is a _steam room_!"

Hazel is plastered against the window. "You can see the whole city, this is unreal!"

Nico can't help but smile, draping himself across the couch after he frees the wings. It feels beyond good to let them loose, and he's content to smush his face against the pillows and doze off.

Except he's interrupted by a hand on the small of his back.

He jerks up to snap at Will- but it's just Hazel, leaning over the back of the couch.

"Should we get some food somewhere?" she asks, and he settles back into the pillows.

"I vote room service," he mumbles. "I want chicken nuggets."

Will's laugh, soft and airy, drifts across the room, and Nico tries to ignore the way the wings flutter in time with his heart.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooo sorry this took forever. I'm not sure WHY, although it might have something to do with more work than ever lately...  
> It took me a long time to get my stuff together and finish this one up.  
> AND FINALLY THE MASSIVE ENSEMBLE SCENES ARE DONE  
> ...for now.  
> This looks like it might be really long...which is kind of scary hahaha

**Author's Note:**

> yayyy new story, I was kinda hoping to finish it entirely before posting but...I guess this is ok too \o/


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